Post on 04-Jan-2016
transcript
TitleClass Discussion: What was North America like before the “discovery” of America by Columbus in 1492?
Before the arrival of Europeans, North America was dominated by diverse Indian groups
In the East, Indians like the Iroquois, Powhatans, & Cherokee were settled
into farming villages
Cherokee farming village Iroquois farmers
Before the arrival of Europeans, North America was dominated by diverse Indian groups
The “jump-kill” technique drove buffalo off cliffs
In the central plains, Indians like the Sioux &
Cheyenne hunted buffalo using mass-hunting techniques
Before the arrival of Europeans, North America was dominated by diverse Indian groups
The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan
In central America, the Aztecs formed a powerful empire
& dominated surrounding Indians
During the Renaissance, a desire for new trade routes to Asia led to an Age of Exploration
European explorers found new trade routes & formed overseas colonies
Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of America in 1492
transformed the future of American Indians & Europeans
The arrival of Europeans led to the introduction of new products between Indians & Europeans
called the Columbian Exchange
The introduction of potatoes & corn helped improve the diets & life expectancy of
people throughout the world
The introduction of European grains, horses,
& cattle transformed many Indian cultures
The introduction of European diseases like smallpox &
influenza killed as many as 90% of
Native Americas
Spain sent explorers called conquistadors to the New World to find gold & conquer lands
Cortez conquered the Aztecs
Pizarro conquered
the Inca
Gold from America increased Spain’s wealth & power
The success of the Spanish colonies encouraged other European powers to
form permanent colonies in North America
Use these documents to guess what the Spanish colonies in North America were like
“I find it confounding to attempt to Christianize the native peoples, and then, when we have done so, to
make slaves of them on our estates. In God’s name is that any way to treat Christians?”
--Bartolome de las CasasSpanish peninsulare
Spanish conquistadors searched for gold & silver
Why did the Spanish colonize in America?
In the 1600s & 1700s, Spain dominated
Central & South Americas and the SE & SW regions
of North AmericaSpain converting Indians to Catholicism & created
missions in America
Red = Spanish missions
The King of Spain who sent viceroys to strictly
govern the colonies (Colonists could not vote
& had few freedoms)
… & haciendas (plantations) using the encomienda
system of Indian workers to farm cash crops like sugar
The economy of the Spanish colonies was
based on mining gold & silver (bullion)…
Spanish colonial society was strictly controlled
Viceroys (royal governors) had power & were at the
top of society White Spanish colonists
(creoles) had land & wealth
The lack of colonial women led to intermarriages
between white colonists & Indians (mixed-race
Indians were mestizos) Native Indians &
African slaves made up the bottom of colonial society
Use these documents to guess what the French colonies in North America were like
France claimed land from Canada to New Orleans & controlled territory along
the Mississippi River
In the 1600s, French explorer Samuel de
Champlain failed to find a NW passage through
Canada but created the French colony of Quebec
Why did the French colonize in America?
Like Spain, the French colonists focused on wealth & converting
Indians to Catholicism
Yellow = French
missions
Most French colonists profited from the fur
trade, small-scale farming, or lumbering
Because the French needed furs, they were the most friendly with
the local Indians…
Like the Spanish colonies, the French colonial gov’ts were strictly controlled by
the King of France who ruled via royal governors
…French colonists had to be Catholic & few people immigrated to America
Use these documents to guess what the Dutch colonies in North America were like
The Dutch created a colony in present-day New York City called New Amsterdam that
became New NetherlandWhy did the Dutch colonize
in America?
New Amsterdam was created by
private investors of a joint-stock company who hoped to profit
from trade in America To attract settlers, the
Dutch gov’t allowed anyone, regardless of religion or nation, to immigrate & granted political freedom to
their colonists…...As a result, New
Netherland was one of the most free & diverse
colonies in America
Use these documents to guess what the British colonies in North America were like
Like the Dutch, the British settled in America through joint-stock companies of
private investors British colonists came to America for a wide
variety of reasons:•Some colonists came to America to escape poverty, gain wealth, or gain land •Some came for religious freedom & to flee religious persecution •Some colonists came to escape violence during the English Civil War
As a result, the British colonies were very different from each other & were never very unified
Britain developed a policy called salutary neglect that allowed
colonists could create local laws & taxes in colonial assemblies…
…Royal governors were sent by the
king, but they had little power
Southern colonies, like Virginia, had cash crop economies, large gaps between rich & poor
farmers, & slave labor
The societies & economies of the British colonies were dependent upon the reasons people settled
New England colonies, like Massachusetts,
were closely connected by religion
& families with an economy based largely on subsistence farming
Unlike the Spanish & French, the British colonists never tried hard to convert, marry, or trade with local Indians, although conflicts over land
were common
Closure Activity■ To review the Spanish, French, Dutch, &
British colonies, students will be presented with a series of “potential immigrants” to North America.
■ For each “potential immigrant” –Determine the best colonial region
for that person to move to–Give a brief explanation that
supports your decision
Potential Immigrant #1:A poor, unmarried man
looking to make his fortune
Potential Immigrant #2:A person with
very religious beliefs
Potential Immigrant #3:A woman looking for new opportunities in America
Potential Immigrant #4:A person looking for political
freedom & the ability help make laws
Potential Immigrant #5:A Native American
looking for freedom from European control
Potential Immigrant #6:A person who enjoys living
“where the action is” (a place where something
exciting is always happening)
Potential Immigrant #7:A father looking for safety &
security for his family
Potential Immigrant #8:An entrepreneur looking for a
location to open a business specializing in shipping